August 23, 2008	Saturday	Sha'aban 20, 1429

RAWALPINDI, Aug 22: More than 100 people, including Rescue-1122 personnel, have joined the search for a five-year-old boy who slipped into a nullah while playing outside his house in Pindora.

Anas, son of Habibur Rehman, was playing outside his house along with his brother during the downpour on Wednesday when he slipped into a nullah at 9:30pm and was swept away. The brother of the missing boy went home and informed his parents that his brother had fallen into the nullah.

Shortly after the incident came to light, Rescue-1122 services were called to the scene. A search was launched to trace the boy, but it had to be suspended as it got dark. On Friday the search operation for the missing boy was started again, but they failed to trace him.

Abid Abbasi, a local nazim, told Dawn that the younger son of Imam Masjid had left his house after telling his mother that he was going out to play in the rain.

But he slipped into the nullah and disappeared.

As the desperate search continued for the missing boy, a large number of people from the nearby areas gathered at the scene and blocked the road.

The angry people raised slogans against the civic authorities for their negligence. Since the boy disappeared, neither the public representatives as well as district administration officials visited the scene nor did they contact the grieved parents.

One of the volunteers said, “How can the civic authorities absolve themselves of this innocent death?”

ROBBERY: A man was robbed of Rs230,000 by two gunmen in the Cantonment area, while three other persons were deprived of their vehicles in different parts of the city on Thursday, police said.

Atif Mehmood, the robbery victim, told the police that he was on his way home after drawing cash from a bank when two motorcycle riders intercepted him and snatched the cash from him at gunpoint.